Logizomai, imputation, and how God Math impacts us all Introduction Good morning! I would like five volunteers from ages eight to 12 to help me right now. HELP Meet me down front right now. I have an assignment for each of you. Each one of you has a job to find someone in the audience with some change coins. I need a penny, a nickel, a dime, a quarter, and a dollar coin. Audience, can you help them out? A penny, a nickel, a dime, a quarter, and a dollar coin If you have a penny, a nickel, a dime, a quarter, or a dollar coin, please help them out. This morning we re going to talk about God Math and the concept of what something is worth is what someone is willing to exchange for it. Title slide: God Math And what may surprise you is that God sometimes counts like we do and values things like we do and sometimes He doesn t. Sometimes He gives value to things that we don t think are a big deal, and sometimes He gives no value to things we think are very valuable. Specifically, this morning we re going to talk about logizomai. Say it with me: logizomai Logizomai is a Bible term that s really a math term the definition is to inventory, estimate, conclude, impute, number, reason, reckon: wrapping one term around all that is basically to account for. And since it s a math term (with a very strong accounting flavor), I thought I needed an auditor to help me this morning. Mrs. Jessica, can you assist? As the kids come back up, please seat them in these five seats and audit their findings. Please make sure they have in total one penny, one dime, one nickel, one quarter, and one dollar coin. The title of the sermon this morning in your bulletin is God Math. However, that s not really the title of the sermon this morning. The real title is Logizomai, imputation, and how God Math impacts us all. (But that was too long, so we just went with God Math.) Jim Fleming teachings.jim314.com 1
God Math is a concept that all of you are familiar with but also a concept you may not have thought about very much. God Math is when things don t add up or get counted the way we expect them to add up or be counted. It s when God values things differently than we do. We ve all got familiarity with God Math and we re going to look at Romans 3-5 to see how God does math how God does accounting. (show the coins on the screen again) Mrs. Jessica have you audited the results? Excellent. Each one of the kids went out in faith believing that someone in the audience had what they were looking for. And when they found what they were looking for in faith, they turned around (repented) and came back. It s a simple picture of salvation (placing faith in something that was then unseen and turning around when they found it). Let s Make a Deal Kids I d like to make a deal with each of you (hint: you should take the deal). I d like to swap each of your coins for an envelope. You have five coins, Mrs. Jessica has five envelopes. But you have to promise me something you won t open the envelope until I tell you to open the envelope. Deal? (have Mrs. Jessica exchange the coins and the envelopes I d like the coins, please) You may head back to your seats with your parents now but remember, don t open the envelopes! Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 3. Romans 3 is found on page 595 of the black pew bibles and page 1,296 of the red pew bibles. We re going to start reading in Romans 3:21 and read all the way to Romans 5:21. Some of you are not used to reading large portions of Scripture, but God s words are better than any other words so today, we re going to read a lot. Ann Voskamp: When there is an illiteracy of His Word, there s a warped reading of everything. When there is a daily reading of God we can read all the crazy of life. Read God and you can read life. The Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Romans and Paul was a lawyer. And he was a good lawyer. He was trained in the Old Testament Law (hence the term, lawyer). In Romans 1-2, Paul introduced the concept of righteousness and talked about God s wrath toward sin and sinners. In Romans 3:21, he turns a corner and starts talking about saving righteousness and freedom found in that righteousness. That s where we pick up in Romans 3:21. (I m reading the ESV, so it s a little different than the pew bibles.) Jim Fleming teachings.jim314.com 2
Read: Romans 3:21-5:21 The Righteousness of God Through Faith (3:21-31) 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested [appeared, shewed] apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it 22 the righteousness of God through [dia; through the center, not dia, dia again] faith in Jesus Christ [God s plan for the redemption of the universe goes through Jesus] for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned [missed the mark and not shared in the prize] and fall short [be later] of the glory of God, 24 and are justified [declared righteous] by his grace as a gift, through the redemption [ransom] that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show [declare, indicate] God s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance [self-restraint] he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold [logizomai] that one is justified by faith apart [separately] from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. Abraham Justified by Faith (4:1-12) 1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted [logizomai] to him as righteousness. 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted [logizomai] as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted [logizomai] as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts [logizomai] righteousness apart from works: 7 Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven [sent, gone, laid aside, left alone, omitted, put away, remitted; And where did those sins go? They went on Christ. They were poured out completely on Him, never to return to us], and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count [logizomai; a double negative (which in Greek makes the idea more intense)] his sin. Jim Fleming teachings.jim314.com 3
9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted [logizomai] to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted [logizomai] to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised [Paul just said Abraham was the father of believing Gentiles this is BIG], so that righteousness would be counted [logizomai] to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. Guzik: Our justification is not God making us perfectly righteous, but counting us as perfectly righteous. After we are counted righteous, then God begins making us truly righteous. God s accounting is the only accounting that matters. What He declares to be right and true is what is right and true. Before we read further, let s watch a quick video to be reminded of God s larger storytelling methods. Video: This is about that. God Math Examples 1. Trinity: 1 + 1 + 1 = 1 God 2. Marriage: 1 + 1 = 1 flesh 3. Church: 1 + 1 +... + 1 = 1 body The Promise Realized Through Faith (4:13-25) Logizomai definition 13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings [accomplishes, fashions] wrath [violent passion, punishment, anger], but where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, I have made you the father of many nations in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, So shall your offspring be. 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was Jim Fleming teachings.jim314.com 4
about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was counted [logizomai] to him as righteousness. 23 But the words it was counted [logizomai] to him were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted [logizomai] to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Peace with God through Faith (5:1-11) 1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace [quietness, rest, to be set at one again] with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die 8 but God shows [introduces, exhibits] his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Death in Adam, Life in Christ (5:12-21) 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread [passed, pierced through] to all men because all sinned 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted [not logizomai, but shares the same root word and virtually the same thing] where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam [Genesis 3] to Moses [Exodus 20], even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type [die, stamp, resemblance] of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded [superabounded, be in excess] for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man s sin. For the judgment following one trespass Jim Fleming teachings.jim314.com 5
brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance [surplusage, superabundance, abundance, superfluity] of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man s disobedience [inattention] the many were made sinners, so by the one man s obedience [attentive hearkening, compliance, submission, obedience] the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more [superabound, abound much more, exceeding; this is the strongest of all of Paul s words in this passage for abounding (superfluous squared)], 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Kids do you still have your envelopes? Great! Go find the person who gave you your coin and stand next to that person. Open your envelope in front of them and shout out what you found inside. $22!! Wow. Give the two $1 bills to the person who gave you the coin and put the $20 in your pocket I told you it would be worth your time. You see, I viewed those coins as worth $22 each, so that s what I paid for them. You may think I m crazy, but you might think God is crazy after you see what He paid for us. God s Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) Examples 1. Adam à All (@ Fall) Grudem: When Adam sinned, his guilt was imputed to us; God the Father viewed it as belonging to us, and therefore it did. 2. Sin à Jesus (@cross) Grudem: When Christ suffered and died for our sins, our sin was imputed to Christ; God thought of it as belonging to him, and he paid the penalty for it. Adam gets us in and Jesus gets us out. 3. Righteousness à believers (@ conversion) Grudem: Christ s righteousness is imputed to us, and therefore God thinks of it as belonging to us. Some of you need to see GAAP visualized. Jared Wilson: How gracious is God? He supplies to us what he demands from us. That s how gracious. Jim Fleming teachings.jim314.com 6
Implications 1. Guilty 2. Helpless 3. Unfair Now what? 1. Repent 2. Believe 3. Rejoice And that, is logizomai, imputation, and how God Math impacts us all. Invitation Pray with me. Father, thank you for your big, beautiful plan of redemption. Thank you for counting what you count the way you count it. Thank you for sending Jesus to take our sin. Thank you for the protection of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for being a faithful God. Many of us have come this morning wanting to hear from you and I ask during this time of invitation that you would speak to our hearts. Convict us where we have fallen short of Romans 3, 4, and 5. Burden us with a strong desire to repent for our sins, believe in Christ for our salvation, and rejoice in what You have done for us. With heads bowed and eyes closed, this is an opportunity for anyone that would like to learn how to be a child of God how to be part of the family of that I ve talked about this morning part of the family that God counts. This is also a time for anyone that would like to come and join with this local congregation to be a member here at Stuart Heights. Perhaps you ve been wanting to be baptized and take your first step of obedience in Jesus as one of His children. Whatever it is, you are welcome here and you have friends here at the altar to help. Perhaps you would like to come forward this morning and pray for someone who does not know Jesus as Lord and Savior. Perhaps you would like to come forward this morning and pray for God to give you opportunities to share the gospel with that person. Perhaps you just want to sit where you are and praise God for counting the way that He does Just be obedient. With no one looking around as you stand, I ll ask Darrell to come and our praise team to sing. Jim Fleming teachings.jim314.com 7